# Triple B Briar Pipe



## Granger (Jul 24, 2010)

As a devoted Meer smoker, it is rare for Briar to touch my lips, but my dad slid me his one and only briar. It is a Triple B (Which I am told meant "Britain's Best Briar"

It is a simple Dublin with a slightly bent stem. It looks a LOT like a Savinelli "Bing's Favorite" with just a touch more bend.

Anyone ever hear of these pipes? I've tried is a little lately...and it is a nice, light, pipe. Great for a quick smoke.

Just hate the reaming and cleaning.


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## ChronoB (Nov 4, 2007)

Granger said:


> As a devoted Meer smoker, it is rare for Briar to touch my lips, but my dad slid me his one and only briar. It is a Triple B (Which I am told meant "Britain's Best Briar"
> 
> It is a simple Dublin with a slightly bent stem. It looks a LOT like a Savinelli "Bing's Favorite" with just a touch more bend.
> 
> ...


BBB was once of the best pipemakers in the world (and one of the oldest). They started out in the 1800s and are worth collecting all the way through the 60s. Shortly after that I think they, GBD and Comoy's all got bought up and quality went in the toilet. Unless it has a silver hallmark they can be hard to date, but if the stem has a brass BBB logo then it was at least pre-corporate ruin. Got a picture?


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## Ben.Reilly (Jun 21, 2010)

I've never tried a BBB, but I have seen them on ebay occasionally.

Question: Why do you smoke only meers?


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## tedswearingen (Sep 14, 2010)

in 1856, after taking over management of the pipe company Adolph Frankau & Co Ltd. (es. 1847) Louis Blumfeld began stamping his pipes with BBB for Blumfeld's Best Briar. This was trademarked in 1876, making BBB the oldest trademarked pipe in British history. However, after Blumfeld's death, the company gradually became known as Britain's Best Briar. In the 1920s the company was sold to the Oppenheimer group as Best British Briar and continued to produce quality pipes until it was absorbed into the Cadogan Company (alongside Comoy's, GBD, Kaywoodie, Orlik Pipes, and L&CO) in 1980.

What kind of markings/stamps can you see on the pipe? And the stem?


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## rrb (Nov 23, 2008)

I got a '70s BBB I "kidnapped" from an uncle and it smokes very well.
It' a dark reddish brown sandblasted billiard. It looks quite nice.
Well... I really didn't kidnap it, I picked it up and told him I was stealing it for me!


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## Granger (Jul 24, 2010)

Ben.Reilly said:


> Question: Why do you smoke only meers?


Let me answer that by cutting and pasting one of my posts...but the short answer is "I was raised that way!"

I am an experimenter, and I buy new pipes all the time to try new things or people who know me will send me pipes they come across. I am an unabashed Meer Smoker! I grew up in a Meer and porcelain pipe family. As I have stated in other posts all the men are pipe smokers and the only time you saw anything that wasn't a Meer (and I include Calabash pipes because those are popular in the family) was when people broke out their Missouri MEERschaum's for fishing, hunting, and yard work. Until I bought some briars, the only Briar in my family was a Triple B* my dad carried for years when he went to work (You might not remember that there was a time people could smoke just about anywhere and no one had a hissy fit). In fact, I brought a briar out at Thanksgiving one year and was mercilessly teased for bringing "firewood" to a smoking session.

(*This is the Triple B this thread is about)


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## lestrout (Dec 10, 2007)

a BBB was one of my first pipes back in the early 60s, and was my trophy pipe at the time. My others were Peretti's, Ehrlichs and Cake Boxes from Leavitt & Pierce, along with 2 Kaywoodies. 

hp
les


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